This past weekend I purchased a bird identification book (Smithsonian Birds of North America) to help try and figure out all the birds I'm seeing in my backyard. We have been calling the American Robin's an Oriole and it took a long time for me to figure out that this bird was an American Goldfinch (Carduelis Tristis.) I have been calling it a goldfinch, but I didn't want to misidentify another bird again.

During Easter week I built a bird blind out of PVC pipe and some camouflage netting. So I setup the blind before sunrise to photograph the birds that have been visiting our feeders. I was hoping to get some nice warm light from the sunrise, but it ended up being a gray morning and there were even some snow flurries that drove me back into the house to get warm.

Here is a shot of an American Robin (Turdus Migratorius.) I wasn't that happy with many of the shots I received that morning, but I wanted to document my first attempts at backyard bird photography. I will post a few more over the next couple of days.

A macro shot of Pieris Japonica at Brookside gardens.

A shot of a Mandarin Duck (Aix galericulata) at the National Zoo.

This is the first image of a test of my new Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM lens at the National Zoo. Technically its not the best photo of a bird, but I'm happy with the focus and the frame filling distance I was able to get with the new lens. This shot was also taken with the 1.4 extender so I was reaching out to 700mm. This particular bird was about 20 feet away.

I went to the zoo on spring break to give the new lens a test. I have several photos I will post over the next couple of days that were all taken with the new lens. So far I like the lens but I have found it does quite a bit of focus seeking. I will try to do a full review of the lens on my CanonPhotoNews.com website after I get more experience using it.

I was about a week or two early to get some good tulip pictures. I will probably head back to Brookside Gardens next weekend.

This morning I was up early for a day of photography. It started with a 5:30 AM wakeup call to take pictures of the birds in my trees at sunrise. Then I headed out to Brookside to shoot the cherry blossoms.